Cranford pool fees likely to increase this year for all

CRANFORD — Pool fees will likely increase this year for non-residents and Cranford residents alike.

During Monday night’s Township Committee workshop meeting, Recreation and Parks Director Steve Robertazzi presented a proposal to increase pool fees by $25 across the board for all categories except senior citizens, who would see a $15 increase.

“We haven’t raised fees since 2011, so we thought this would be a good time to implement new fees,” Robertazzi said. “We took our closest relative facilities including Clark and Westfield, and our resident fees and our non-resident fees are in line. We’re in between Clark and Westfield. And we have two pools to offer.”

Current fees vary widely, depending on the type of membership: single, family, senior, resident, non-resident. For the breakdown, go online to cranford.com/pool.

The increased fees would result in an estimated $82,000 in revenue, which would help with capital improvements slated to be done at the pool complex this year.

Committeewoman Lisa Adubato asked Robertazzi if he anticipates the increase will have any impact on memberships. “Maybe minimal,” he responded. “I don’t think $25 a year is going to make or break anyone.”

Commissioner Tom Hannen pointed out that the increase will allow the township to keep the facility in shape to continue to attract people.

Zoning Officer Robert Hudak gives commissioners an update on codification of the townshipâs Master Plan.

In other business:

• Zoning Officer Robert Hudak gave the committee an update on the codification of the township’s Master Plan. Hudak said consultant Paul Rickey of Rickey Planning has developed a draft, which Hudak has reviewed and made some changes to. Hudak said he hopes to get an updated copy of the ordinance to the Township Committee in the next week or two.

• Township Engineer Richard Marsden gave an engineering update on work including the North Avenue Station project, road resurfacing, and river desilting.

Regarding the North Avenue Station project, Marsden said there have been no comments from the state on the current round of plans, and he is hopeful that in the next few weeks the township will receive a blessing from the state to move ahead with the project.

As to the road resurfacing, he said “all the brakes have been put on” due to the extremely cold weather. He said he won’t be bringing crews back to work on the roads until March, when he hopes it will be warm enough to do the concrete work.

The contracts have all been awarded and paving is scheduled to start in April.

“If you had a stretch of weather for maybe 10 days that were 32 degrees or above, could you bring the crews back to start it?” asked Hannen. Marsden said he wouldn’t because of the danger that streets could be torn up and if the temperature should drop, the work couldn’t be finished.

Marsden also reported that the river was lowered on Monday afternoon in preparation for desilting. The project is expected to be completed in a month. In the meantime, commissioners said the public should be aware that it's not safe to skate on the ice.